TAXI driver Tomas Bagcal and a witness identified only as “Joe Daniel” on Monday identified Police Officer 1 Jeffrey Perez and Police Officer 1 Ricky Arquilita as the cops who shot 19-year-old Carl Angelo Arnaiz to death.
During the resumption of the Senate public order committee hearing on the death of teenagers, Bagcal said it was “Jeffrey” and “Ricky” who shot Arnaiz even after he repeatedly appealed to the Caloocan cops that he was just “turning over” the two teenagers who tried to rob him.
Bagcal later on identified the victims as Arnaiz and 14-year-old Reynaldo de Guzman.
Asked by Senator Grace Poe if the cops who shot Arnaiz were present in the hearing, Bagcal said: “Si Jeffrey and Ricky po.”
Meanwhile, “Joe Daniel” said Monday he was threatened with detention at the Senate if he were to testify in the probe on the deaths in the government’s war on drugs.
“Joe Daniel” said he met Arnaiz’s eyes when the 19-year-old was about to be shot, but he withheld this information in his affidavit because he was afraid.
Senator Panfilo Lacson, chairman of the public order and dangerous drugs committee, asked him who he was scared of, and he said in Filipino: “Dun sa naghatid sa akin, sa nagsundo…Ide-detain daw po ako sa Senado pag nag-witness.”
He could not identify who he was referring to but said the person was riding a motorcycle.
Lacson then asked him to describe further this person who made the threat, adding in jest that it should be this person detained.
The witness earlier told the senators that he personally witnessed Arnaiz being shot by two policemen, identified as PO1 Jeffrey Perez and Ricky Arquilita.
According to Bagcal, the two teenagers tried to rob him on Aug. 18.
One of the teenagers held a knife under his ear. He said he was able to get help from a tricycle driver who noticed a commotion inside the vehicle.
With the help of the tricycle driver, Bagcal said he brought the two teenagers to the nearby police station.
Bagcal said he, along with a certain “Sir Lakay” whom he later on identified as “Mr. Raras,” went to C3 road. The said cop, according to him, stayed inside the vehicle when Arnaiz was shot to death by Perez and Arquilita.
He said he did not hear Arnaiz say anything before he was shot dead, but he also saw the victim raising his hands.
“Joe Daniel” said during the hearing that he saw one of the teenagers shot to death.
He said he heard several gunshots, and saw the cops get an item wrapped in a white cloth, which they placed near the victim.
The witness said he just happened to be in the area when the incident happened.
Arnaiz’s parents found him in the morgue on Aug. 28, 10 days after he had gone missing.
A body dumped in a creek in Gapan, Nueva Ecija a few days later was identified as De Guzman who was Arnaiz’s last known companion.
A DNA result conducted by the Philippine National Police, however, said that the body was not De Guzman’s.
